Rebel
by duchessjohanna
Summary: She's from the Firenation during the war. Her father is highly ranked in the military and favors the war whole-heartedly. She, on the other hand, does not. When word spreads of the avatar returning, what will happen?


**A/N: Hey you guys this is my OC Avatar the last airbender fanfic that I decided to start. So let me know how you like I and let me know if you want me to continue it. Thanks **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the last airbender. **

"Adara? Adara, sweetheart, it's time to get up. Wake up." I hear my mom's feminine voice as she nudges me trying to wake me.

It's too early to be in a good mood, so automatically, I answer grumpily, "What?"

"Adara," My mother begins this time a little rougher, "it's time to get up for school. Now come along, you need to get dressed. You have no time to laze around in bed. The rest of the firenation is awake, so you have to be as well."

"Mother, I'm awake." I say as I throw my legs over the side of my bed and stand almost unwillingly. My mother is dressed in a dark red kimono that is decorated with flames and the Firenation symbol on the chest. Her hair is tied in a long braid; so long it almost reaches her calves.

"I'll send in your keepers. I expect you to be dressed in a few minutes." And with that my mother leaves and in come my, "keepers," who are named Farah and Dieka. They have been my keepers since I was born. They are about my mother's age, I'm pretty sure. Farah enters wearing her uniform and is followed by Dieka who is also dressed in her work uniform.

"Good morning Miss Adara, would you like some tea?" Farah asks showing me a fine teapot and teacup.

"No thank you Farah." I manage to say. I've been treated this way my whole life and you would think that this wouldn't make me feel awkward. But, strangely is does. Dieka doesn't say much to me and never really has. She's always been the girl who is very quiet. She begins to disrobe me and when she finishes she reaches for the neatly laid out robes and begins to dress me. Farah stands at the side picking out some of my jewelry. I don't really enjoy wearing it. But, my mother says that me being a daughter of a man so high ranked in the firenation is supposed to look formal; every day.

"Now, sit down so I may braid your hair." Dieka instructs me while pulling up a small stool from my vanity. I take a seat and she stands behind me and begins to separate my hair so that she can braid it. Dieka has always had this crazy thing with braids. It seems to have been my one and only hairstyle since my hair was long enough to be styled. The only time my hair is taken out of its braid is for special occasions and when I go to sleep.

She finishes and Farah puts on my jewelry. "Well, there you go. You're all done. Now, go downstairs, you have school." She instructs shooing me along. Farah was sometimes more of a mother than my actual mother.

"Thank you Dieka, thank you Farah." I leave the room and they smile genuinely. The kitchen in the morning is always restless. My family is fairly small, but we're loud people. Especially my father when he's talking about something he cares about.

"Can you believe this? 20 years of working my way into the firelord's good favor and now I'm being transferred to some navy ship in the middle of the sea." My father's complaints are usually the first things I hear in the morning. My mother feels sorry for him at times because he knows no one cares what he is saying. I would as well, but once you start to listen to it every day of your life, you start to become annoyed.

"Well honey, I'm sure it will all work out." My mother reasons with him in a soft voice.

"Of course it will. Sozin's comet will arrive in less than a year. It will give us the power we need to finally end this war. Once the other kingdoms are gone, we'll finally be able to expand properly. What an economy boom." My father explains as I enter the room and take a seat at the table. My father doesn't acknowledge me really, but looks away from his food to glance at me very quickly.

"So, dear, when will you be leaving to join this fleet?" My mother asks trying to ease the tension. My father and I are complete opposites when it comes to politics. My father is in favor of the war and wants the other kingdoms to succumb to the Firenation or parish. Now, me on the other hand am very strongly opinionated with this and believe this war is stupid and is only hurting good people. I actually at times feel ashamed that my nation is so caught up in its mightiness that it doesn't recognize how it's messing up the natural order of life.

"I suppose I will be leaving soon. Word of rebellion has been being talked about across the army. They say some group of vigilantes will attack us soon. I don't really believe it. No group of people no matter how stupid would attempt to attack us. They now it would only end in disaster." He says taking a bite from his bread. I slam my teacup down a little loudly. My father looks at me with an eyebrow raised and my mother gives me that look that she always gives me when she doesn't want me to do something.

"Um, father, let's not pretend like this is a one side war. It wouldn't be called a war if only one side was fighting. And the other kingdoms can attack us as much as we can attack them. We're just as vulnerable."

"You watch your tone. I thought I told you about speaking of such nonsense." He scolds me.

"Nonsense? Since when did caring for people ever become nonsense? Just because I'm not some savage monster who wants to destroy all life besides our own doesn't mean that my opinion is nonsense."

"Adara!" My mother grabs my arm firmly, "stop this right now!"

"Stop what? My voice? My opinion? I count too." I say pointing to myself.

"Not right now you don't." He tells me.

"You're out there killing innocent people. For what? So we can expand our nation?"

"Enough of that talk Adara! I've told you if you were to be caught in school or outside of this house talking like that you'd likely get us all killed for treason. And for what? So you can mouth off about how we need to stop the war to save a few lives? That's the cost of war Adara! Sacrifices have to be made." My face is a little numb for what my father has just said. He calls them sacrifices like their nothing.

"Well you won't have much luck when the avatar comes around." I said.

"The avatar?" My father laughs. "The avatar's kingdom was killed off before he was even born. Quit speaking foolishly Adara. You'll make the family look bad." I have to bite my tongue before I go off on him.

"Now go on, get going to school." He tells me. I stand up and respectfully bow to both my parents. It's custom in my nation to show an act of respect to your elders and higher authorities. I personally don't like it.

I walk out of the door into the early sunrise. Even now, the air is still warm. I attend a school for the children of nobles, dukes, and high people in the military. Princess Azula and Prince Zuko do not attend my school, but Mai and Ty Lee do. Mai doesn't speak to anyone much and well, I am not an exception. But, Ty Lee does grace me with one of her quirky hellos every now and again. I guess you could even call her my acquaintance if you really wanted to. During school, I try to stay to myself as much as possible. The kids at my school are what I consider snobs. Their fathers have high positions in the firenation so they automatically think they're special. What they don't realize is that they're just the children of chess pieces on the board Firelord Ozi plays on. He doesn't care about our fathers in the least respect. But, he does care about winning the game.

I walk into the school and enter my classroom. Most of the kids have already arrived and are already situated in their proper seats. My seat is farther in the front, which I really don't like. Our teacher tends to ask the children in the front most of the questions. And well, a lot of the times, I don't know the answer.

The rest of the kids pile into the classroom before our teacher, Mrs. Xing enters.

"Take your seats children." She says strictly as she takes her seat at her desk. "Today we will be focusing on the Earth Kingdom and we will learn their customs, history, and modern life. To defeat the enemy, you must know the enemy." She says. I want to roll my eyes, but if I was to do that I'd probably get kicked out of school for the day. And then they'd make my mother and father come in for a conference. I've had too many of these in the past. My parents do not like when they have to come into school.

"Everyone rise to recite the Firenation oath." We all rise from our positions on the floor and turn to the flag centered in the back of the room. Almost simultaneously we place our fists on our hearts and begin to recite.

"My life I give to my country,

With my hands I fight for Fire Lord Ozi,

And our forefathers before him,

And with my mind I seek ways to better my country,

And with my feet may our march to civilization continue."

"Now take your seats. To begin the lesson, let me explain the Earth Kingdom monarchy. The Earth kingdom is led by the Earth King….." The teacher continues to babble on and on. I try my best to block her out and even rest my head on my hand on the table. But once I'm comfortable, smack! She slams her teaching stick on my desk.

"Ms. Kai, if you do not want to have yet again another conference, I suggest you pick your head up and listen to what I am teaching you." Her voice is rough and gritty. I've never really enjoyed her.

"Yes, ma'am." I say in a small voice. She nods at me. I can hear the giggles from my classmates behind me and I can feel the redness in my cheeks full of embarrassment. She always did this to me. I was always the one she picked on, every single class. The day passed on and it was soon time to leave.

"Ok students, tomorrow we will be having an exam on the material we learned today." Our class groans.

"Oh hush!" She scolds. "I expect your research projects to be turned into me by tomorrow as well. Good day students, you are dismissed." And with that she exits the room and the students begin to collect their things and exit the room as well. I can hear them whisper about me.

"Did you see her? She's such a disgrace." One girl whispered to a friend who nodded. I stood there speechless. They're words didn't hurt as much as their boldness did.

"Don't listen to them." A monotone voice says from behind me. Everyone has left the room except for me and this person. I turn to see Mai in the corner collecting her bags. Why was she even talking to me? Mai never talked to anyone.

"Oh, and why not? I'd rather be a disgrace then be one of them." I say.

"I honestly don't blame you. You're the Kai girl right?" she asks stepping closer.

"Yeah, that's me. How'd you know?" I ask.

"Well, I know of you. And my father knows of your father." She smirks.

"Oh surprise surprise. It seems like everyone knows my father. It's all they ever seem to notice now."

"That's kind of my problem too. Everyone only knows me because of my dad. I'm sort of getting fed up with it. He sends me to this stupid place like I need to know any of this pointless stuff. I mean, it's all stupid! " She says.

"Not to be rude, Mai, but if we get caught talking like this in school, we'll have more things to worry about than a conference."

"True, well it was nice talking to you….?"

"Oh, my name's Adara." I say.

"Adara. I'm Mai." She says.

"Yeah, I know." I smile.

"Ok, I'll see you around." She says and leaves.

I go home and Farah is making the family dinner. Some sort of fish, I think. My mother tells me to change out of my school clothes immediately. She says it's customary. I for one am getting really sick of these customs.

"I have to leave tomorrow." My father says bluntly while scarfing down his food. My mom places her chopsticks down and looks over at him.

"Why so soon?" she asks.

"The Firenation is starting to prepare for Sozin's comet arrival. I've been stationed on a fleet in the sea. Hopefully, I won't stay there for the entire ending of the war. That would be incredibly boring."

Again, I had to bite my tongue. These arrogant comments made by my dad were really beginning to piss me off. He's so certain the firenation will win the war. But, what does he know? He's barely a soldier. He doesn't know anything about how the others have suffered. He doesn't know the pains their families have felt when they found out their fathers have died.

"Incredibly boring? I'd imagine you're looking forward to actually getting on the battlefield. I know you enjoy watching them suffer. Am I right?" I ask as I nibble at my food. Farah is standing at the stove and turns to look at me wide-eyed. Our eyes meet and she shakes her head telling me to stop. My father pushes his chair away from the table and stands up. I do too.

"Get out of my sight!" He yells.

"No! Tell me. Is that why you think it's boring? Because you want to ruin their lives? Because you want power? Because you're bloodthirsty?"

"Go to your room! Farah, take her away from me!" He yells at Farah and she bows her head and takes me by the arm and leads me to my bedroom. She closes the door behind her and blows her bangs out of her eyes.

"Are you crazy?" She yells at me. "You know not to do that!"

"Farah, I don't need a lecture." I say as I take a seat on my bed.

"Well apparently you do. You know how your father gets when you act like this. I won't hear the end of this for days." She complains.

"Well, you're in luck because he leaves tomorrow."

"You know what I mean, Adara. I'm only scolding you because I care for you." She walks over to me and places a hand on my shoulder. I yank myself away from her.

"Farah, he won't silence me."

"Adara, if you continue to speak like this, you'll be killed. We're only yelling at you for your own good."

"My father could care less about my own good! The only thing he cares about is serving the Firenation. He's become so caught up in it that he doesn't care for his family anymore."

"He loves you, Adara. He really does. He wants to keep you safe. You know what Ozi does to traitors." She said.

"No offense, but I don't think Ozi is worried about someone of the likes of me."

"You are a powerful firebender. He'd take you as a threat."

I shake my head at her. She just doesn't understand. She hasn't figured out the puppet show yet. She hasn't picked up on the fact that we're all just marionettes. We're nothing to Ozi. He just uses us for his own purposes.

"Farah, I'm sorry but you're a fool."

"Adara you're the one acting like a fool. I'm only trying to help you. Can't you see that?"

"Can't you see that you mean nothing to Ozi? That I mean nothing to him? My father means nothing. My mother means nothing. Nobody matters to him. As long as he gets what he wants, he's happy. We're just his puppets."

"Firelord Ozi cares for the Firenation, Adara. We wouldn't be in a war if he didn't care for us."

"We're in a war so he can get power, Farah! It's not for us!"

"Adara, I can't change your mind, but I genuinely ask you from the bottom of my heart to stop talking like this. If you continue, you'll get us all killed. Do you want that?" She pleaded. Of course, I shook my head. I didn't want anyone to get hurt. Which is exactly why I had the opinions I had.

"No Farah. I don't want that. I just feel helpless." I say.

"You're not helpless, Adara. You're far from it." She says hugging me. Farah was more of a best friend than a keeper.

"Thanks." I say.

"I have to go clean up dinner. Do you want me to bring you any food?"

"No thanks, I'm pretty full."

She smiles and leaves my room. What a day this has been. I'm so sick of being accounted as nothing by people. The only person who has actually been there for me is Farah and even she has had her moments. I walk over to my window and open it releasing a warm breeze. I feel like some sort of helpless little girl. I place my head on my hand on the windowsill and look out into the streets. I suddenly hear loud commotion down in the streets. I take my head off my hand and stick my head out the window to hear better.

"The avatar! He's alive! He's been spotted!" And then I felt my jaw drop.

**A/N: Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed. I'll probably update this if I think I can take it farther, which I'm pretty sure I can. Anyways, thank you and please review! **


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